Vertico City

In a vertical city, can you plumb the depths of betrayal?

The world of Sheyol is, according to legend, a place where the enemies of the Ancients were sent for punishment. Eventually, the Ancients disappeared for reasons unknown, and the sons and daughters of the prisoners had sons and daughters of their own.

An age has passed, the Ancients are nothing but legends now; the truth lost to the mists of time.

It is easy to see how those legends arose: At it’s most intense, the sunlight on the surface of Sheyol boils water in mere moments, and Venturing out across the surface must be done at night.

The city of Vertico has been built into the walls of a chasm, the extensive tunnels and bridgeways cutting across the rock and void alike as if they were immaterial, and the age of technology providing the impressive machinery that provides convenience and comfort to many of it’s citizens, along with the economy powered by the wheels of industry; from the Artificers who create the machines to the workers who gather the Mana Crystals to power them.

Only the more affluent can live near the rock face with only the very richest at the bottom, near the lake that fills the floor of the chasm. The further you go from the rock face, the poorer the people. Eventually, it does not matter how deep you go, it is populated with undesirables from top to bottom. The city can only govern so much after all, and in the tunnels beyond it’s boundaries lie the criminals, the bandits, and the savage and uncivilised.

Some of the tunnels are old; older than the city certainly. Some are said to be as old as the Ancients, although that is meaningless except amongst those who believe in such things. Rumours persist however, that there are strange things to be found in the deepest tunnels for those brave or foolish enough to venture forth. Most point out that there are enough strange people in the city without having to go out looking for them. The rumours refuse to die however, no matter how much ridicule they may attract, and how many lives they may claim.